I would like to congratulate the members who were able to attend 7 or more meetings in 2022. They received a nice, embroidered Carthart jacket. The membership has approved to do this again for 2023. So, if you attend 7 or more meetings in 2023, not including the December meeting, you will receive something similar in 2024. We encourage you to attend the meetings and stay informed on what we have going on.

We have started off a bit slow as far as work since a lot of the bigger projects that were going on are wrapping up. The work outlook however looks good. We have 3 large projects in the central valley. The Chicken Ranch Casino and hotel, Modesto Courthouse, and the Stockton City Hall Projects. These are just the larger projects that are going on for the members who live in San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Merced County area. The Richard Boulevard Office Complex in Sacramento has been going for a while and recently Level 5 has picked up a few more Drywall Finishers. The Aggie Square project at UC Davis Medical Center has recently started some framing so finish trades should be coming soon. There are 2 large DGS projects downtown that are coming up as well. One of those is scheduled to begin in late April and the other later this year. These are the just the larger projects there a lot more smaller projects as well.

We have been working with our painting contractors to go after the summer repaint projects that usually start going out to bid around this time of year. We are working with them to target these projects that have historically gone to non-union contractors. We are hoping that by targeting these projects more of this work will start to go to our employers and in turn create more work opportunities for our members.

We also have a lot of Industrial Painting contractors coming in from out of the area. These are union contractors, and they are required to use local manpower on some of the projects. The problem is that we usually don’t have qualified industrial painters to send. They are asking for members to have respirator, booms and lifts, confined space, and first aid CPR especially for Journeyman. If you are a Journeyman commercial painter and interested in becoming a hybrid commercial /industrial painter, please contact me at (916)696-1106. This will benefit you by giving you the ability to work on both commercial and industrial projects. I hope some of you consider this to help you in your career.

This is just a little bit of what we have going on right now. I look forward to a positive and productive 2023.

In Solidarity,

William Gonzalez